Kate saved her latest changes, already thinking about the best way to work off the aftereffects of the call with her father.
It was too bad Master Dex had dropped her off and left so quickly. Another session like the one they’d had at The Dungeon earlier would relieve her of the rest of her stress. Although she wasn’t sure her body could handle more flogging at this point, no matter how much she loved it. Or even a dozen more orgasms—although Master Dex had told her with a smug smile that he’d given her a baker’s dozen just to make sure she knew he always followed through on his promises.
She sighed happily and concentrated on every wonderful ache. The only one noticeably absent was the one between her thighs. She had hoped he would fuck her senseless after the amazing flogging, but reluctantly admitted she had been so far gone in subspace that she wouldn’t have remembered much about it anyway.
She smiled as she thought about him.
Several of the Doms she knew and even played with wouldn’t have cared if she was in subspace or not—they would have had sex with her and dumped her in aftercare to rouse whenever she would.
Another pang lanced through her that maybe she should wait and see how long Master Dex would be in town, but she squelched the traitorous thought.
No. It was a great night, and it can be a great week, but I will not structure my life around a man—any man.
She had seen some of the marks Master Dex had left on her earlier when she’d gotten home and quickly changed, but right now she craved seeing them again.
It was time for the shower that had been derailed by the urgent message from her time-share client. Apparently her father’s work ethic really had seeped into her over the years.
A firm head-butt against her ankle reminded her that Rusty wanted his dinner. He was used to coming to tell her at midnight or even one a.m. that he was hungry, since Kate had a bad habit of getting so sucked into work that she would forget to eat, sleep, or even pee. She scooped up the orange tabby, cuddling him like a baby as she walked into her elaborate kitchen.
The previous owners had added walnut cabinets and stainless steel appliances. While Kate wasn’t a gourmet chef, she could cook, and enjoyed it when she had time. But she often ended up grabbing something on the go and eating it over the sink, rather than cooking a full meal and eating leftovers for the next few days. The high-capacity ice-maker in the freezer door was the most used part of the kitchen besides the fridge.
Diet Pepsi, iced coffee, and iced tea kept her going through long work sessions, or even challenging conference calls. Very few of her clients were local, so she spent more time than she would like on the phone.
She set Rusty gently on the floor, enduring his meows of impatience as she spooned the Friskies turkey and giblets dinner into his bowl. It was his favorite, and she’d started buying it online in bulk to avoid Rusty’s pouting when the grocery stores ran out.
She spoiled him, no doubt about it. Her father had never let her have a pet when she was little, so when she bought this place and could do as she pleased, she’d gone to the shelter and immediately fallen in love with Rusty.
The cat was apprehensive and sometimes downright aggressive around men, so hadn’t been adopted. In fact, when Kate found him, he was only a week away from being euthanized. The shelter didn’t know much about his history. He’d been brought in as a stray, but wore a fancy collar and was gentle and friendly with women, children, and other animals.
Kate and Rusty were a perfect fit, and early on, she had learned to trust his judgment. If she brought a man home and Rusty hissed, scratched, or bit him, Kate steered clear. The cat apparently had better intuition than she did.
With her companion happily eating, she scratched him behind his fuzzy, orange ears before heading to her bedroom for a much needed shower.
As she stripped off all her clothes and tossed them into her laundry basket, she winced when a few particular sore spots made themselves known. She stretched her arms toward the ceiling, shrugging her shoulders and rolling her neck from side to side to work out some tightness that had settled in from the call with her father.
She walked naked into her decadently huge bathroom, and in the large mirrors that hung over her double sinks and long vanity she caught sight of the myriad of wonderful red and purpling stripes across her normally too-pale flesh.
A rush of warmth pooled between her thighs as vivid memories of her scene with Master Dex replayed inside her mind. She turned back and forth looking at herself from all angles, appreciating the marks she would be able to carry for the next few weeks to remind her of the best flogging she had ever received.